The Face in the Mirror
by Lady Nightshade
Summary: A forgien exchange student at Mai's school brings an Urban Legend from her home and with it a whole lot of deaths. The SPR group doesn't get invovled, that is until Mai nearly ends up a victim.
1. Chapter 1

The Face in the mirror

Author's Notes: I do not own Ghost Hunt manga that is owned by Shiho Inada, with the novels being owned by Fuyumi Ono. I also do not own the Bloody Mary Urban Legends, unless you want to count the one I made for this story. Thanks to my neesan Kyia who helped me put pieces together and fill out any plot holes that might have been a problem. Also thanks to her beta reader Titenwren who betaed

The sounds of giggling and running water broke the silence in the dark room; the halls outside were devoid of noise. A throat cleared and this time the only noise in the room the running water; until the one of the voices of the inhabitants started speaking into the darkness.

"Bloody Mary," began a female voice, with a soft drawling accent. "Bloody Mary."

More giggling followed by the other girls joining in, chanting the name eleven more times their voices slowly becoming strained with fear, before the sound of splashing water could be heard. The next few minutes were filled with a tense silence. 

"Well?" asked one of the girls. "Now what do we do?"

"Ah man," wailed another one. "I was hoping it would work too."

Someone giggled and the lights were turned on, momentarily blinding the girls as they blinked until their eyes adjusted to the light before they turned their attention to the girl standing by the switch. Her burnt-auburn hair was plaited into two braids with her bangs hanging slightly before her pale green eyes; she smiled at them, before moving back to join the small cluster of girls.

"Well," she said in her soft drawling voice, shrugging her shoulders. "It is just a legend, and I did tell you that out of all the times I tried it back home, it never worked."

"Anyway," said one of the girls, still disappointed, while checking her watch and turning the water off. "Let's get back to class - lunch is almost over."

The girls nodded together and made their way out of the bathroom, but not before the red- haired girl tripped on her own shoes and fell over.

"Savannah, how can you be so graceful on the stage or when practicing ballet and yet be such a klutz anywhere else?" asked one of the older girls, with shoulder- length lightly curled dark - brown hair and coal black eyes helping her up.

"Don't ask me, Chika," sighed Savannah, dusting herself off.

The voices of the girls slowly drifted off, leaving the bathroom empty, no one noticing that the lights were dimmer then normal – until Mai came dashing into the bathroom, making beeline for one of the stalls. The girl blinked a few times and glanced up at the ceiling, noticing that the lights seemed to have dimmed a bit; she frowned at the ceiling.

'Do the lights need to be changed?' she thought, before finishing her business with a soft sigh.

The moment she stepped before the mirror to wash her hands she noticed the water splotch dripping water down the reflective surface, she stared at it for a while, blinking. She sighed and shook her head, reaching for a paper towel; when her hand was hovering over the mirror's surface, the smell of blood assaulted her senses, blood and something else, and she nearly gagged, dropping the towel and covering her mouth and nose with both hands, hunching over slightly. Her eyes widened when the hairs on the back of her neck started to stand up, and she got the sensation that she was being watched, but there was no sign of anyone else being in the bathroom with her. She felt her breathing hitch until it was finally over and the smell of blood was gone, while the feeling of being watched was still there. Shaking slightly, she retrieved the fallen paper towel and wiped away the splotch on the mirror, shuddering slightly when it was over.

She then turned her attention from the mirror and left the bathroom, putting the water out of her mind, she broke into a run when the bell rang. She didn't notice the woman that had appeared in the mirror dressed in Puritan clothing, her blonde hair matted with blood and dirt hanging in her face and around her shoulders. A cold smile spread across her lips, the rest of her face hidden by hair and shadow, before she faded away.

Later that day

Mai sat at her desk at the office, her mind flitting from the office work to the strange sensation she had gotten in the bathroom at school. She had considered reporting it to Naru but had decided against that because, honestly, it was probably just her mind playing tricks on her. All the cases they had been on were probably making her paranoid, and besides, just because she had faced a similar situation in dealing with Vurado, that didn't mean her intuition was always going to be right. So there was no need to bother Naru with such a thing. Besides that, he would probably think her an idiot - not like he didn't already - and she was wasting his time, which she probably would have been. That didn't mean, however, that just the thought of the strange events in the bathroom didn't send her skin crawling or the hair standing on end in the back of her neck. Speaking of which she closed her eyes and hugged herself shivering a moment before going back to work, least she be caught and accused of not doing her work. That didn't mean, however, that she couldn't chase the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Later that night

The bathroom was made up of ivory - tile and purple paint along the walls, with a light brown wood work for cabinets, and doors with brass fixtures. The ivory tiled sink and counter top had several pillar candles of varying shades of light purple that were lit and filling the room was the scent of lavender and lilac; the flames were well enough away from the lavender hand towels with lilac lace that were hanging from an ivory towel bar beside the door to the bathroom, so that they wouldn't cause a fire. The bathroom mirror took up a good portion of the wall, running the length of the sink and its counter. There was one closet across from it that held other towels, cleaning supplies, and medicine on its shelves, along with a variety of other household objects. Then finally, beside the closet was the shower, which was currently on and filling the room with steam, the occupant of the shower's outline being seen through the lavender plastic shower curtain. Beside the shower was the toilet, and above the toilet was the room's window, which was currently being hit by the slowly beating rain.

Chika sighed and wiped the steam from her bathroom mirror, tightening the towel around her body. She fixed the towel around her head and turned the water on reaching for her toothbrush, she yawned a bit before going about the task of getting ready to brush her teeth before bed. She blinked when a loud crash could be heard and turned her attention to the small window above the toilet, noticing that the storm that had been threatening to come all day was finally starting to show. It was still barely raining, but the sky was surging with thunder and lighting. She sighed and shook her head; she hated storms – it was always hard to sleep at night when it stormed; she slept just fine when it rained, but not when it stormed. She turned her attention back to the mirror and started finishing the task of brushing her teeth. The lights blinked a couple of times to the steady beat of the faucet's drip and the rain before going out.

"Great," moaned Chika, rolling her eyes heavenward. "Just great; well, at least I didn't blow the candles out after my shower."

That said, she leaned over the sink to brush her teeth closer to the mirror and by the faint light that was provided by the candles; spitting into the sink she turned the water back on to wash away the toothpaste suds and spit before leaning over even more to take some into her mouth. She rinsed away the rest of the toothpaste suds and then spit that all out into the sink, and wiped her face off with a nearby towel before dropping it into the trash beneath the counter and behind a cabinet door. She turned the faucet off until the usual drip was heard and then one by one began to blow the candles; not noticing that ripples were appearing on the bathroom mirror, she did however notice the scent of blood and something else she wasn't quite sure of. She wrinkled her nose and backed away from the last candle, waving a hand before her face in annoyance. 

"Yuck," she groaned, making a mental note to talk to her father about the possibility of something having died in the ventilation system or something of the like.

She moved closer to the mirror and froze, not quite believing her eyes; there was someone in the room with her, behind her, in fact. The woman was wearing a black dress with white trim and white apron secured around her small waist; her blonde hair that was cascading around her shoulders and before her face like a curtain was matted with blood and dirt; she stood there behind Chika with her hands hanging limply at her sides and her head bowed almost as if the neck had been broken. The brunette turned around slowly, her hands gripping the counter's edge until they were white, and she stood there, her breathing hitched; her eyes ran down to the woman's hands, noticing that her nails were abnormally long and that the fingers were twitching slightly, like they were itching to do something. The head slowly began to raise along with the arms and Chika's eyes widened in fear; the scream that had been caught in her throat ripped free and a bloodcurling scream filled the air before the hands swung down and blood splattered the surrounding area.

Next Day

Whispers flew from student to student; the entire school had found out about Chika's tragedy and how strange the tragedy was. The family owned no pets to account for the animal-like scratches along her face; nor was there any sign of forced entry into the house, animal or human. It truly was odd, so the police were investigating it and were looking at the members of the family as being the suspects; they weren't ruling out suicide, however.

The group that had been in the bathroom with Chika doing the Bloody Mary ritual was huddled together in one of the class-rooms, whispering amongst each other.

"What if the ritual really worked," whispered one of the girls fearfully. "What if we really raised Bloody Mary?"

"Oh don't be such a twit, Jun," hissed one of the other girls. "There is no such thing as Bloody Mary!"

"But Chiyo," whined the girl.

"Chiyo's right," said Savannah, putting her book down and joining them. "There is no connection to Chika's death and the Blood Mary ritual."

"How do you know?" whimpered Jun. "How do you know we didn't cause this?"

"Because," said Savannah, with finality. "The legend says that if Bloody Mary doesn't show up in the mirror then the ritual didn't work, and since none of us saw her, it didn't work. Right?"

"Right," said the girls, nodding.

"Good," said Savannah.

"Okay," said Chiyo, firmly. "Chika's death was just a terrible tragedy and had no connection whatsoever to the ritual we had performed that day; it's just some fluke coincidence, that's all."

"Right," said Savannah, clapping her hands together. "Let's all get to our own classrooms and everything will be fine."

The girls nodded and Jun followed Savannah back to their class. The rest of the school day flew by without a hitch until lunch, in which another group had gathered in the girls' bathroom, with the lights out and the faucet running.

"Bloody Mary," chanted the girls. "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary."

The chanting started to break up a bit as the girls reached the thirteenth name and their fear started to get the better of them; one of the girls took a deep breath and reached into the running water for a handful, which she threw at the mirror. The girls waited for something to happen, holding their breath and watching the mirror; somewhere in the back of their minds they registered that the faucet was no longer running. One of the girls yelped when it started dripping and they noticed that the lights were flickering on and off to the dripping water. When the final drop of water fell from the faucet, ripples appeared on the mirror's surface. Then their breathing hitched when a feminine figure began to take shape within the ripples; with the last ripple the figure became solid and they saw her standing before them with her head bowed and her blonde hair hanging before her face, matted with blood and dirt, her black and white clothing looking old and battered.

"What's that smell?" whispered one, cupping her hands over her nose.

"I don't know," answered another one, coughing a little.

"Hey look," whispered one of them.

The girls watched the female raise her head and arms slowly; their eyes widened when they caught a glimpse of her face beneath the hair, and they ran out of the bathroom nearly stumbling over each other. They crashed out of the bathroom and nearly slammed into one of the hall monitors, mumbling their apologies; they headed back to their classes, staggering slightly so as not to seem too strange. After awhile they got over their fear and started to giggle at the entire thing.

Night

The bathroom that Chiyo shared with her two sisters had the motif of the ocean. The tiles and bathroom rugs where all a sandy color, with the towels being varying shades of blues; the walls had an ocean mural painted on them with various fish swimming around the walls, and various marine plant life was painted along the middle of the walls above the sea-green tiles. She let out a soft sigh and glanced down at the sink and counter, both of which were a dark green tarnished metal that matched the cabinets beneath them and made the entire thing look like something that had been pulled from a shipwreck, though the sink was in the form of a shell. The shell theme had been taken on into the larger mirror, which had small shells pasted to the outline of it, forming a border. The entire thing, in Chiyo's opinion, was rather garish and a bit much; though her sisters did seem to love it, she hoped that that would change when they got older. The only good thing about the bathroom was the large tub that was good for soaking in and the fact that the shower curtain that went in front of it was a pretty green. Plus, the window beside the toilet had a netting in front of the normal ocean-blue curtain that had shells stuck in it. So it wasn't all bad – just most of it, and Chiyo tried to spend as little time in here as possible, unless she was taking a long bath, and even then she pulled the curtains shut and pretended she was somewhere else.

Chiyo stared into the mirror, rubbing face cleaner between her hands under the running water before pulling her hands out and transferring the face wash to her face, rubbing it in circles. The storm that had started the night before raged outside, the rain pouring from the sky while the thunder and lighting remained just as strong. The lights in the house had been flickering off and on throughout the night, which is why Chiyo had taken to carrying a flashlight with her – in case the lights did go out before she hit the sack. She glanced up at the ceiling when the lights began to flicker on and off a few times before going off; she sighed reaching for the flashlight to turn it on and setting it point upwards she then bent down over the sink and cupped her hands beneath the running water to rinse her face a few times, she repeated this issue routine a few times before reaching over to turn the water off. Taking her hand towel she dried her face not noticing the ripples forming on the mirror's surface nor the woman emerging in the mirror behind her.

When Chiyo dropped the towel to the side she yawned briefly, blinking a few times before turning her attention to look into the mirror, at the same time reaching for her toothbrush until she noticed the woman behind her. She blinked a few times and turned around quickly, looking at the woman and trying to push herself into the counter top.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my bathroom?" she hissed. "Screw the bathroom, what the hell are you doing in my house?! Not only, that but what the hell are you doing in THAT?!"

Chiyo winced when she started to smell the scent of blood and something else; it reminded her of the time the meat in the refrigerator had gone bad, but not quite. 

"Hey!" she snapped, her anger giving way to fear, which somewhat fed her anger. "Look at me when I am talking to you!"

The blonde-headed woman in the strange clothing slowly began to lift her head and raise her arms, and for the first time Chiyo noticed the long, sharp nails. She screamed once and then it was cut off when the stranger's hands swung down and blood went everywhere.

Next Day

Mai collapsed into her desk and sighed, laying her head against the cool top; she was finding it hard to believe that two of her schoolmates had died within twenty-four hours of each other. She had heard whispers from the students who had been interviewed on their thoughts on the dead girls' personal and family life. Whispers of family problems and relationship problems for the girls had flown throughout the school. Accusations came from the police about whether or not their fathers had abused them, or someone else in the family had. Those that knew the girls best were outraged when the police questioned them about what they thought of the girls being suicidal; they told each other that they didn't believe for one minute the girls would crack under pressure. Tempers were running high, along with the stress of having the police asking for students to interview.

Mai really wanted this day to be over; every time she entered the bathroom the bad feeling she would get would increase, and she constantly got the feeling that she was going to either faint or lose her food. She was almost tempted to call in, but she knew that would only cause problems with Naru, problems she didn't want. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair when the teacher stepped into the room and prepared for the afternoon classes.

Making her way through the halls, she caught snippets of conversing students; even the students that hadn't been questioned by the police were talking about it. The two girls had slashes going down the front of their faces and the back of their heads had hit, or been smashed into, the mirror. The students that had been interviewed were exchanging the questions they had been asked and the answers they had given.

"Can you believe the questions they asked? I mean, I can't believe they asked me if they did drugs! After I got over the shock of that question I simply told them 'no sir, the girls didn't do drugs.'"

"They asked if she had any family problems? Well, I simply told them they didn't have any that I was aware of."

"I still can't believe they asked me if Chika's father was abusive! I simply told them flat-out that I couldn't imagine Chika's father being abusive—he is far too kind for that—and that even though Chiyo's father was a bit cold, I still couldn't see him being abusive either."

"Did they ask you about the girls having boyfriends? They didn't? That's odd – I would have thought that they would have. What did I tell them in response to that question? Simple 'No, I don't think they had any. Chika had one or two boys interested in her but neither one of them seems like the sort of person that would do that.'"

Mai sighed and pushed her way towards the front door; she had to hurry if she wasn't going to be late for work – Naru hated tardiness, especially from her. When she arrived at work she set her stuff by the desk before making her rounds to see if Naru or Lin wanted tea, and then set about preparing their preferred teas – black for Naru and peppermint for Lin. Once this was finished, she booted up the computer and got to work on the office work that Naru had given her. An hour had passed and she was in the middle of typing up a report on a case they had just finished, when she started to get that strange feeling again. It almost felt like she was being watched, but seeing how her back was to the wall and the office was on the second floor, and not only that, but the doors were closed to Lin and Naru's offices, there was no way someone could be watching her. She bit her lower lip and looked around just to make sure no one had slipped inside when she wasn't paying attention; she breathed a sigh of relief to notice she was still alone in the front office, because if someone had come in she would have gotten an earful from Naru.

However, knowing she was alone in the room didn't ease the feel of her being watched. She sighed and blinked her eyes. She was starting to get paranoid and the storm that had been raging for the past few days wasn't helping; it was giving the entire city the feel of a B - horror movie or mystery. Shaking her head, she got up from her seat and headed towards the bathroom so she could throw a little water on her face hoping that would help her to shake whatever funk she was in now; besides that, she really did need to use the restroom.

Lin was finding it hard to concentrate. His Shiki were acting strange- they had been the past couple of days, but only when Taniyama was in the office. But today, or was it tonight, they seemed especially agitated, almost as if the storm that had been raging for the past few days had brought something with it, something yearning for the girl's blood.

Mai sighed and washed her hands, cupping them slightly to allow water to pool in them before splashing some water on her face. That horrid feeling she had been having all day just seemed to increase with every passing moment; it was like she was waiting for the executioner's axe to drop. She stayed there for a moment, her hands on the sink; leaning over it and letting the water drip from her face, her eyes closed and she breathed slowly in and out. She glanced up at the ceiling watching the lights flicker on and off, the water still dripping from her face not noticing the ripples appearing on the mirror in time with the water dripping from her face. She scrunched her nose up in annoyance when the lights flickered off and turned her attention back to the direction of the mirror.

It was then that the strange smell assaulted her nose; she coughed slightly and covered her mouth and nose with her hands, her eyes tearing up from the stench. She knew this smell, she had smelt it in the bathroom at school when the lights had needed to be changed—they still did- and she had found the splotch of water on the mirror. She coughed some more and leaned against the sink; her stomach retching from the odor, she could not remember it being this strong before. She glanced up at the mirror as the lights slowly began to turn on until they cast a faint glow, similar to candle light, around the room, and it was then that Mai realized she was not alone in the bathroom.

She knew this smell, she had smelt it in the bathroom at school when the lights had needed to be changed -they still did- and she had found the splotch of water on the mirror. She coughed some more and leaned against the sink; her stomach retching from the odor, she could not remember it being this strong before. She glanced up at the mirror as the lights slowly began to turn on until they cast a faint glow, similar to candle light, around the room, and it was then that Mai realized she was not alone in the bathroom.

A gasp left her lips and her eyes went wide in terror; spinning around, her mind registered the woman standing before her. The black dress the woman wore with a white square neck and cuffs was stained with blood and dirt; it was torn in places, showing skin along the body and in some places that weren't fit to be seen. The woman's blonde hair was unbound around her shoulders and before her face, dirty and sticking together in clumps by blood and dirt. The young woman could feel her breath coming to her quickly and she was breathing heavily with her heart pounding in her ears and sweat dripping down her face. The smell seemed to consume her like a flood and her eyes followed the movements of the woman's hands as they slowly rose in front of her, the woman's normal nails growing to an unnatural sharpness and length. Then her eyes focused on the woman's now raised and visible face; pale skin was marred with ugly red scars, and beautiful gray eyes were filled with raw rage and hatred. Movement from the corner of Mai's eyes caused her to throw herself against the bathroom sink and scream in terror, which blended with pain.

Lin frowned when his Shiki began to get more agitated; they had been acting like this ever since the lights had flickered and gone out because of the storm. He had been sitting in the dark for a minute, feeling grateful that he had saved the stuff he had been working on before the power had started flickering on and off, or else he would have lost everything. He breathed a sigh of relief when the light started to slowly turn on, though he had to admit he did find this odd, and was just getting up to make sure Mai was fine when her bloodcurling scream shot through the office and sent him running from the room in its direction. He wasn't surprised to find Naru shooting to the girl's rescue right beside him. The closer they got to the bathroom and the stench of blood and death coming from it, the worse their worry grew. They couldn't help but wonder what they were going to find on the other side of the door.


	2. Chapter 2

The Face in the Mirror 2

The Face in the Mirror 2

Author's Notes: I do not own the _Ghost Hunt_ manga that is owned by Shiho Inada, with the novels being owned by Fuyumi Ono. I also do not own the Bloody Mary Urban Legends, unless you want to count the version I made for this story. Thanks to my neesan Kyia, who helped me put pieces together and fill out any plot holes that might have been a problem. Also thanks to her beta reader TitianWren, who betaed

I do apologize about this chapter taking so long to get out, things have constantly been getting in the way plus I suffered writer's block. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to get out.

Lin turned to stare at Mai, who was sitting beside him in the van, before turning back to look at the road; she had the relaxed look of someone who was on some massive painkillers. He sighed softly, his mind going back to what he and Naru had seen when they had burst into the room.

Flashback

"Mai!" shouted Naru.

At the same time Lin shouted, "Taniyama-san!"

Naru and Lin burst into the door and froze when they saw a woman dressed in Puritan clothing standing with her back to them. The woman's blonde hair and clothes were matted with dirt and blood. She turned her head slowly and the two males gasped in surprise to see the woman's face, covered in bleeding scratches that ran along her face, marring what once must have been beautiful. They could see Mai on the ground, out cold, blood running down her face from the scratches on her forehead. The Puritan woman let out a twisted smirk before the only image of her they could see was in the mirror. With a few ripples upon its surface she disappeared, and the only female in the room was Mai.

Lin snatched the towel from the rack and applied it to Mai's forehead, hoping to slow the bleeding down since the scratches looked like they would need stitches. He heard Mai groan slightly and then cry out softly in pain.

"The hospital knows you're coming," said Naru, putting his phone away.

Lin nodded and helped Mai to her feet, leading her out of the office to the SPR van.

End Flashback

Lin glanced at her once more out of the corner of his eyes and cleared his throat. When Mai turned to look at him he sighed again and started speaking.

"When we get back to the office, you'll have to tell us what happened," said Lin.

"I know," said Mai, leaning the side of her face against the cool glass.

When they got back to the office Naru was already waiting for them, so they could begin with the interrogation.

"Shall we begin, Mai?" asked Naru, though it sounded more like an order.

"Right," nodded Mai, taking a seat while Lin went to get the laptop to take notes. "Well, let's see… the first thing I noticed that seemed off was a few days ago. I went into the girls' bathroom, and while I was finishing up in there and washing my hands, I noticed this wet spot on the mirrors. It was strange, but I just wiped it away and shrugged it off—that is, until I noticed that the air was starting to smell funny, almost like something had died in there and was rotting. It was also accompanied by the smell of blood; I also had the feeling I was being watched, but no one was in there with me. Over the next few days some of the girls that go to my school started dying off."

"How many girls in total?" asked Naru.

Mai was silent for a moment, placing her finger to her chin and thinking while she counted. "I believe two or three," she said at last.

Thus it continued, with Naru asking questions and Mai answering them to the best of her ability and then finally, after what seemed like hours but in reality was only minutes, it came to an end and a game plan was decided upon.

Elsewhere later that night

The storm had calmed down to the point of there only being rain and wind, but according to the weather reports it wasn't anywhere near being done. Jun slipped into the ladies' room at the club and puffed up her bangs, messing with her short hair so that it was more mussed and wild. She took her small backpack off and started going through it, looking for her lipstick. She could faintly hear the thunder kicking back in through the frosted bathroom windows over the pounding of the music in the club. While she was applying her lipstick to her lips the lights flickered and with a sigh she tossed the lipstick into her backpack and took out a small case of silver body glitter, applying it to her eyelids and cheekbones while she muttered some choice words under her breath.

The lights started to flicker again, while she fluffed her hair a few more times and arranged her bangs in front of her eyes, and every time they did she thought she saw something in the mirror's reflection in the corner of her eyes. She turned the faucets on and ran some water through her hair, hoping that would keep the hairstyle together. The lights suddenly flickered out and Jun groaned into the darkness; fumbling, she turned the faucet off and started trying to feel her way through the darkness to the bench in the corner. She sighed in relief when the lights started to slowly come back on, a strange occurrence. She coughed slightly and swatted at the air in front of her face.

"Oh my God," she groaned, hacking slightly. "What the hell is that smell?"

She coughed a few more times; she pinched her nose and froze, seeing something out of the corner of her eyes. Turning around she saw a woman standing slightly behind her and to the left. The other female that was in the room with her was wearing a black dress with white trim and white apron secured around her small waist; it reminded her of the costume she had to wear for the play she was in last year. The lady's blonde hair was cascading down to her shoulders and fell before her face like a curtain; it almost looked like the once shiny blonde hair was matted with blood and dirt. The hands of the unknown female hung limply at her sides and her head hung by her neck in such a way that it looked as if her neck was broken.

Jun whirled around, her hands grasping at the counter's edge, and she stood there, her breathing hitched; her eyes ran down to the woman's hands, noticing that her nails resembled animalistic claws and her fingers were twitching slightly. Her head slowly started to raise with her arms and Jun's eyes grew wide in fear; she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She whimpered slightly and when the woman's eyes locked with hers a twisted smile spread across the face. Jun's mouth dropped open but the only sound that escaped was a strangled scream; then the hands dropped down like an axe and blood splattered the stalls; while the crash of a mirror split the air, which didn't go noticed until another girl stepped into the bathroom and let out a blood-curdling scream.

The next day whispers of Jun's death filled the school grounds and the depressing atmosphere hung over the school like a thick mantle. The cops were getting more insistent on interrupting classes and trying to find out how the girls were connected, outside of the school. Mai had been dragged from her first class within five minutes to be questioned by the cops about the bandage on her forehead; the questions were more or less the same half the time only phrased in different ways. When they finally released her she wanted to do nothing more then curl up in a small corner and sleep, for a month, but upon exiting the room they had confiscated for questioning she was assaulted by her fellow school mates with questions of their own.

"Did you escape?"

"Are they from an attack or were you just careless?"

All the questions were all answered with either silence or just some made up story, that she had practiced after getting home, about how she slipped and fell in the bathroom and cut herself on the corner of the bathroom countertop. She would always take the time to thank the powers that be for the gauze that hid the number of scratches that would discount her story.

The students at Mai's school were rather surprised to see the SPR van pull up to the front of the school about an hour after Mai had been released from questioning by the police. Several of the girls were drooling at the sight of Naru and Lin, much like they did the last time. The other members would arrive later on in the day, after they had finished doing their duties: John would arrive after the daily church services, Takigawa after his band finished practicing for their concert that weekend, Masako would appear after her television appearance was over, and Ayako after her parents had finished with her. In the meantime the two males had apprehended Mai in order to help set up base and get things unloaded from the van. The police were starting to be a normal occurrence that week and the teachers accepted the semi-frequent interruptions with as much grace as possible. Word was already spreading quickly about the death of Jun in a very identical way to the deaths of Chiko and Chiyo. The police were now treating it like a homicide. Mai noticed a flash of red hair making its way to the bathroom while she was bringing in some cables and almost thought she heard the girl crying, but she dismissed it.

She was questioned by more people throughout the day, until she just wanted to scream at them to leave her alone. Really, it was annoying to no end and the only thing stopping her from banging her head into the nearest vertical object was the fact that she had stitches in her forehead and breaking them would not be a pleasant experience. She had opened stitches once her life, before her parents died and she had no desire to do that again.

It was halfway through the school day and Mai was on her way to collect her schoolwork and homework when she noticed two cars pulling into the parking lot Takigawa had picked up John, and she noticed her friends stepping out. She gathered her work and waited for them in the halls, where Takigawa did his usual boisterous greeting.

"Mai!" he shouted, glomping the girl and very nearly squeezing the life out of her.

"Get off me!" snapped Mai, attempting to shove him off her, to no success, before settling on punching him in the stomach.

Takigawa finally released her and then noticed the bandage on her forehead, he had been told about the attack by Lin but was still unprepared for to see it. He ruffled her hair affectionately asking, "You alright Mai-chan?"

"Fine, fine a bit tired but fine," muttered Mai, waving him away.

Mai smiled at John and Ayako in greeting and the four of them were off and making sure the younger girl was alright with Ayako hanging over her like an overprotective mother ask ing questions about Mai's health and whether or not she was eating properly. That was until Takigawa said something and then he and Ayako went off on each other about one thing or another; Mai privately thought that they acted a lot like an old married couple. She was leading John, Takigawa, and Ayako to the base ignoring the whispers floating around them; the student body still remembered the last time this particular group of people had gotten together. Still, no one, especially not the victim, was prepared for the squeal that went through the crowd, nor the person that had latched onto John like a leech.

"Can I help you, Miss?" stammered John, his face flushing brightly as the faux-leech nuzzled him.

His three companions stared at the scene for several seconds before snickering.

"Mai," shrieked the girl, running her hands through his hair. "He's just so adorable, and I love his hair—it's so soft!"

John's blush was slowly starting to creep up to his ears while the girl was starting to rub her cheek against his.

"Please let me go," requested John, sending pleading eyes to the other three, who in turn only laughed out loud.

"John," gasped Takigawa, through his bouts of laughter, tears pricking through the corners of his eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be celibate."

"Keiko," gasped Mai, clutching her sides and struggling to form the words. "I want you to meet John Brown, a priest."

"Mai," pleaded John, turning on the puppy eyes.

"Ahh," squealed the girl, now known to be Keiko, and a newcomer who immediately latched onto John's other side.

John was starting to seriously panic; his head was whipping side to side and he was starting to have hideous flashbacks of when he was still in the seminary and some of the church girls got the idea to drag him into the girls' bathroom. He had somehow barely managed to escape before they finished with their little makeover. He was really, really hoping this was not going where that had gone, because he seriously did not want to repeat that.

"Mai," he pleaded, turning to the youngest SPR member, turning his puppy-dog eyes on full force.

"Kawaii!" squealed the girls clinging even tighter to him.

"Let go," requested John, his blush starting to leave his face and starting to be replaced by whiteness. "Please let go!"

Mai stopped laughing long enough to notice that John's face was pale. She was starting to wonder what the chances were of him passing out on them; Naru would not be happy at all with that. She sighed, finally taking pity on him, and detached her classmates from his body, sending them protesting on their way, almost wanting to promise them his phone number.

"No, seriously, you two," said Mai, standing between the girls and John, who was slowly starting to get his color back. "He's a priest and he did take a vow of celibacy. Not only that, but we have work to do. Sorry."

"Aahh!" complained the girls before leaving them alone and heading back to their classrooms, mumbling to each other.

She turned back to the others, who were waiting for her, and burst out laughing again when she saw the look of relief on John's face. She continued to lead the three of them down the hall towards base, into which she ushered them. The moment she closed the door, Naru turned his attention to them, his eyes gazing over them, taking in the fact that Masako still had yet to show up.

"I am going to go ahead and give you your orders," stated Naru. "Mai, after you catch up the others on what has been going on I want you to try and gather any information you can about any of the students that were with the deceased before their deaths; give us their names. John, I want you and Takigawa to finish setting up the cameras in the halls. Ayako, I want you to start creating charms."

Everyone nodded their heads before turning their attention to Mai and waiting for her to give them the information, or her information, on their latest case. Mai once again repeated everything she had told Naru and Lin the day before. She sighed in annoyance, knowing that she would have to tell Masako when she showed up, and answered a few questions that the others had. After she had finished the bell rang and she slipped out of the room, accompanied by John and Takigawa, to start gathering information from some of the students she had seen the deceased with in school.

It took Mai a while but she finally managed to find two of the girls that were well known for hanging out with the deceased girls. They looked a little put out about having to once again be asked questions about their late friends, but dealt with it, in their words, "If only to find the bastard or bitch that was responsible for their deaths."


End file.
